Monster
by Blue Seidr
Summary: Set before AC. Oneshot about Artemis's guilt-ridden descent into madness. Please read!


**This is a oneshot that takes place before the Atlantis Complex. Artemis is falling into the clutches of the phycosis when this takes place. Warning: this is a little depressing. I don't usually write depressing but this pretty much wrote itself and I think it brings out the emotional side of Artemis that he keeps so tightly locked away. Anyway, please review and enjoy.**

Monster

One dark and windy night (really, it was), Artemis sat straight up in bed like an electric current had passed through him. His forehead and bangs were sticky with sweat and his breath was coming out in quick, rasping jolts. He was filled with terror and panic for an enemy he could not see. His mismatched eyes darted around his bedroom, searching for something to bring the calm he sought.

He tried slowing his breath and to clear his mind, but his heart kept at its racing pulse, refusing to calm down, and his brain remained full of the disorienting, disturbing, horrifying images from his nightmare.

He needed to go. He needed to leave right now.

Artemis slipped out of his bed and crept to the door. He opened it a crack and, seeing no one was there, stepped into the hall and silently shut the door behind him.

His feet lead him through the manor undetected. He passed under the unwavering gaze of the potraits of his ancestors and drifted by empty guest rooms. His bare feet padded down flights of stairs and navigated the hallways. He didn't know where he was going, only that he would know when he got there.

He finally descended one final flight of stairs and halted outside a rather ordainary-looking door. Artemis had not been in this room for almost 3 years (6 if you count the time tunnel thing), but he remembered it like he had left only an hour ago.

Artemis turned the smooth doorknob and silently drifted into the room like a ghost. Nothing had changed since its first, and last, occupant had inhabited it. The room had a concrete floor, ceiling and walls, all painted a bright white. The only thing in the room was a twin sized bed with a cast-iron frame. The walls and floors were unblemished, except for one spot near the bed where the concrete had been smashed away to reveal a tiny patch of earth.

Artemis walked over to the bed and sat down on the mattress, then laid down on it. He stuffed his face into the pillow and took a deep breath in, feeling slightly disappointed and foolish when all he smelled was dust. He looked up and around the room, taking in the view from the bed.

_"Getting ideas are we, Captain Short?"_ A cold voice from the past whispered to him. Artemis shoved his head back into the pillow, trying to drown out the voices, but failed.

_"Bringing the worlds together like this could mean disaster for us all."_

_'I am not concerned with us all, just myself. And believe me, I shall be perfectly fine."_

_"We've had you over a drip for over sixty hours..."_

_"Three days? You could have killed me. What kind of..."_

_"When are you going to learn, Mud Boy? Your little schemes have a tendency to get people hurt. Usually the people that care about you."_

_"Is that the kidnapping lowlife human?"_

Artemis felt tears running down his face. He was a monster. He had lied, kidnapped, manipulated and hurt his friends, even after they became so. He had stolen billions of dollars and ruined countless lives in the process, and for what? To improve his already posh life while people arounfd the world starved? To impress a father who had been missing, in all likelyhood been dead, and had come back with a change of heart? He was despicable. A menace. A horrible human being.

And it wasn't enough to risk his own life with his plots. He had to drag his loved ones into it as well. His mother had been possessed by Opal and was lucky to be alive and sane. What if it had been his father too? Or Myles or Beckett?

He tried to remember all the good things he had done, all the times he had saved the world and tried to make up for his evil ways, but the terrible things kept pushing their way back in.

Exposing his mother to Opal. Almost getting Butler killed in an attempt to make MONEY off of STOLEN fairy technology. Turning his back when Holly was dying. Selling the lemur to the Extinctionists. Lying to Holly. Shooting his own father. KIDNAPPING HOLLY. This was the thought that burst the dam.

Artemis broke out into tears, silent sobs racking his body. Tears streamed down his face like rain on glass, and he sucked in breath after breath trying not to become hysterical. _I'm a monster. _He thought. _I'm a monster, I'm a monster, I'm a monster, I'm a monster. _He thought over and over again as his tears soaked the pillow. _I'M A MONSTER I'M A MONSTER, I'M A MONSTER, I'M A MONSTER. _He curled up into a small ball and let that horrifying realization be his only thought, his lullaby as he cried himself into an oblivious sleep.

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Butler was getting worried. He couldn't find Artemis anywhere. He wasn't in his room or his lab or his study or the library. He had searched most of the first floor before running into Juliet, there for a quick visit before returning to Mexico for a new wrestling season.

"Juliet, have you seen Artemis?"

"Haven't seen him, Dom. Why are you searching room to room, though? Wouldn't it be easier to check the camera's?"

Butler mentally smacked himself. Of course that's what he should do. He was really getting too old for this. He rushed to the security room and selected the camera outside Artemis's room. He rewound the tape until he saw Artemis creep out of his room sometime in the dead of night. He followed Artemis's progress through the various cameras until he watched Artemis enter a familiar-looking room. He fast forwarded the tape to the present, but Artemis never left.

Butler raced down the halls to the small room in the basement. When he arrived, he finally remembered why the room was familiar. This was the room Juliet had converted into a cell. A cell built to hold a fairy.

He silently opened the door and came across Artemis curled up on the bed, dead to the world. Butler's confusion grew. Why on earth was Artemis in here? He walked up to the boy genius and gently shook him awake.

"Artemis? What are you doing down here? Are you all right?" Butler asked.

Artemis glared at him, a sight Butler hadn't seen in along time, at least, not directed at him. "Nothing Butler. I am perfecty fine. Now if you'll excuse, I am going to get dressed."

And Artemis stood up and strod away, tapping his leg while he walked up to his room. If Butler had thought to count the taps, he may have noticed that he was tapping in multiples of five. But he didn't, opting instead to stare bewildered at his young charge.

**So what did you think? Good? Bad? Want to run me out of town with torches and pitchforks (can't have a self-respecting angry mob without torches and pitchforks)? Review people! It's an authors bread and butter. We live for feedback! Make my day and review! It only takes a few seconds and it means the world to me to hear comments! I gladly except constructive criticism, but be kind about it! Thanks so much for reading!**


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